Beginners aerobatics + not puking

[rusty sparrow]

I'm doing some aerobatics training later this year.

Any tips on not being airsick:yuk:? Wouldn't want the distraction of gut management spoiling the fun.

[The Heff]

Clench your buttocks as you pull positive g. Sounds silly but it works.

[Zulu Alpha]

Eat about 1-2 hrs beforehand and drink plenty of water. Low blood sugar and dehydration will make you feel ill quickly.

Open all the vents...get lots of fresh air.

Fly as much as possible yourself, much less likely to feel ill if you do the flying.

Tighten the lap belts as much as possible and don't overtighten the shoulder straps.

Stop if you start to feel ill and land. You won't 'recover' while flying.

Very few people feel ill, especially if the pilot/instructor is a good one.

Enjoy it!

ZA

ps Bananas are good before the flight... they give you blood sugar and also taste the same on the way down and the way back up!!!!

[T18]

I recall being taught that if the Pax feels ill get them to lift their feet of the floor. Sounds implausable, but it works.

With nervous pax get them to hold onto their shoulder straps, it gives them confidence and hopefully stops them from grabbing the controls!!

[PAPI-74]

Go to the park and spin yourself on the merry-go-round till you feel a bit off and stop. Then stand on the swing sideways till you feel off colour and stop. 3 x a week and you will be fine. Start the flying side of things gentle and for 20 mins - building up to longer and higher g sorties.

[aseanaero]

Any tips on not being airsickhttp://static.pprune.org/images/smilies/pukey.gif

You will have good days and bad days , after a few hours you'll build up tolerance to the G forces.

Good sleep the night before, fresh air vents open and be aware that your mind and body want to play tricks on you . It will probably hit you occassionally when looking down at the air speed indicator then turning your head to check vertical angle on the wing tip and other manouevres requiring sudden head movements.

A big part is mental also , focus on what the aircraft is doing , concentrate on the task at hand and not concentrating on how your head and stomach are holding up.

I never barfed doing areas but when learning I came close a couple of times and I told the instructor I needed to back off for a few minutes. If your head's spinning and you start breaking out in a sweat go straight and level for a while and if its not getting better call it quits for the day and go and do circuits or something.

[Mark1234]

You may find this worth reading / of interest:

http://medind.nic.in/iab/t07/s1/iabt07s1p37.pdf

I also suffer - whilst training and flying aeros regularly I found my tolerance built up quite noticably, however of late I've not flown aeros much, and found myself turning a delightful shade of green after having had to demonstrate some spins at the weekend. I'm planning to have a go at the exercises in the paper, see if I can develop / maintain my tolerance on the ground.

Part of it is also familiarity. Whilst something is new we tend to be focussed on one small portion of the experience, not taking in the big picture, which increases the likelyhood of nausea. As it becomes familiar, we have time to look around and admire the view; in my experience that helps a lot!

[IFMU]

When I was starting we would go 15 minutes and then I was ready to head back to the pattern. This gradually got better where I could fly acro for a half hour or hour and just feel a little crappy, but not feel like I had to barf. It takes time. If I went back to acro now it would be like starting over.

-- IFMU

[aseanaero]

Clench your buttocks

I think you are confusing this with another technique to avoid large laundry bills and embarassment on the ramp

Closest I came to this was doing my 1st outside loop in a Pitts S2A , I thought I had the seat belts done up nice and tight and pushing negative G I moved about 2 inches out of my seat , the clenching manuevre was

1. my unconcious reaction to hang onto my seat with said buttocks

2. to avoid life long embarassment at the airport

[D SQDRN 97th IOTC]

each person is individual

each a light meal and hour or so beforehand
ensure your sugar levels are normal before the flight
some people think they will puke, so don't eat....and this makes it worse

try taking some ginger - you can get the pills from tescos / sainsbury

re the monoevures themselves, I found aileron rolls the worst ! And a few of these would be a sure way to have me heading back to the airfield. There is no real "g" involved with these rolls, but the horizon quickly spins round. I also found -ve or zero "g" not much fun. However, I never had a problem with +ve "g" when doing aeros (loops, barrel rolls) or when spinning.

[BackPacker]

Haven't seen this mentioned already, but it's along the lines of "make sure you feel good": No (or very little) alcohol in the 24 hour before the flight.

Also don't dress too warmly. Aerobatics planes typically have a full-perspex canopy with no shade so they quickly turn into a greenhouse. You can normally fly in just a t-shirt when the OAT is zero degrees celcius.

Don't move your head during high-g maneuvers.

And as others have said: enjoy it, don't push it. You've got to build tolerance so it is in no way uncommon that you've had enough after just 10-15 minutes. Land, do something else for two hours and then have another go. Even after having done aeros regularly for two years now, I find that most of my flights are one hour from startup to shutdown, with as little as 30 minutes of aeros time before I'm thoroughly exhausted.

Our aeros plane has been down, waiting for parts, for about six weeks, but looks like it's going to be ready by this weekend. It'll be like starting all over for me.

[englishal]

One of the chaps in our group told me a story about when he joined the Fleet Air Arm several decades ago.....

One of the chaps in this group said that the doctors at the medical would do their upmost to make one puke, and anyone that puked failed and was booted out. So this bunch of young "wannabes" decided to beat the system, and the day before the medical went and found a fair ground. They went on every single ride over and over again making themselves thoroughly sick, the theory being that if they did this, then the next day at the medical they'd walk through it.....

The medical came...and guess what...it was all a vicious rumour :}

My only advice from my limited aero's is keep the eyes outside. If you are nervous and trying not to look out at the world at a strange angle, it makes it far worse than relaxing and enjoying the view (even if it is upside down or you are falling with style!).....

[BackPacker]

My only advice from my limited aero's is keep the eyes outside.

I have flown aeros with airline pilots as passenger. The maneuvers themselves they were okay, but as soon as they looked at the AH after the maneuver they got sick. I guess they fly IFR too much and get thoroughly confused by a toppled AH.:}

Yes, keep eyes outside. The only instruments that should be in your scan are the airspeed and altitude, and maybe the RPM. Don't look at the gyro instruments at all, and look at the engine instruments every now and then between maneuvers.

[airborne_artist]

One of the chaps in our group told me a story about when he joined the Fleet Air Arm several decades ago.....

One of the chaps in this group said that the doctors at the medical would do their upmost to make one puke

I joined the FAA three decades ago. Don't recall this rumour, nor anything like it. The entry aircrew medical was done the morning after passing AIB (officer selection) with no time to go to a funfair, as I recall! Can't even imagine how we could have been made to puke, either.

Back to the Q - I found I had no symptoms of airsickness when I was in control - the problems arose when I was just a passenger, and I was not able to anticipate the aircraft's motion.

[Human Factor]

Can't even imagine how we could have been made to puke, either.

Try the exercises in Mark1234s link. Shouldn't take long..... :yuk:

[BackPacker]

the problems arose when I was just a passenger, and I was not able to anticipate the aircraft's motion.

Very important factor indeed. When I take passengers on an aerobatics sortie, I first get them strapped in in the aircraft, then brief them on the maneuvers we're going to do (using an Aresti crib sheet) before we start the engine. I deliberately do the brief in the aircraft because there's less distraction there and I can show them stick positions, instrument indications, where to look etc.

In the air, I brief each maneuver again quickly, using my hand to visualize what the plane is going to do, before executing it. It really helps against getting airsick.

So far, my only pax who ever got sick in an aircraft that I was in command of was on final after a straight-and-level flight.

[RatherBeFlying]

It was almost six months since my last glider cross-country and after 3 hours getting to the first turnpoint and back I ended up too knackered to take on any more thermals with the aggression demanded by the day and had to abandon the task. Big mistake was leaving the munchies in the car while busily getting ready and not drinking enough water in flight. It was cool at 8000' and I was not feeling thirsty but after 2+ hours it caught up with me.